Many companies outsource (subcontract) a majority of their work to stay competitive in today’s global environment. As a result, a serious risk arises associated with obtaining accurate and audible proposals from subcontractors for inclusion into the proposal to their customer. Continue reading
Risk Management is a process by which uncertain events (risks) that may affect a project are identified, analysed, planned for, monitored (controlled) and, in the event that they are realised, dealt with.
However despite the conventional wisdom that Risk Management will prevent project failure from a cost, time, quality perspective or whatever other criteria has been established for successful delivery, projects continue to fail.
Much has been written about the use of the terms “risks” and “opportunities” with respect to the process that PMI refers to as “Manage Risk.” A recent thread on the subject of the terms on LinkedIn has drawn over 100 responses debating their meaning and usage, dissecting them in detail and resolving little. For the purposes of this post, let’s agree to refer to outcomes of planned project activities as uncertainties.
In the PMI PMBOK guide, Risk is defined as always in the future and is an uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has an effect on at least one project objective (usually in the area of budget, schedule or quality).
Risk is the scourge of project management as it is the only ‘unplanned’ event that the project team must try to first, identify, and secondly, determine the effect of this uncertainty on the overall project or organizational goals then thirdly, attempt a strategy to minimize the impact. Risk is managed throughout the project life cycle and each risk is placed into the project Risk Register. (See below example of Risk Register)
First, what is VUCA? It is an acronym for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity. This is the biggest threat to your safety program.